CFA Institute urges members to ‘renounce profit maximisation’ and embrace professionalism
The global head of the CFA Institute, Paul Smith, has urged the investment community to embrace professionalism and “renounce profit maximisation” as two critical steps towards restoring trust with investors. Speaking at the CFA Societies Australia Investment Conference in Sydney, Smith (pictured) described the investment management industry as being at “something of a crossroads”. “Trust … Read more
New Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation appointed
Jim Chalmers is the new Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation. Speaking on his promotion to the Shadow Cabinet, Chalmers said it was an honour and “especially pleasing” to take up the financial services and superannuation portfolio given his longstanding interests in the sector. “This sector is at the pointy end of technological transformation … Read more
Jim Chalmers frontrunner for superannuation portfolio
Labor MP Jim Chalmers is the frontrunner to become the new Shadow Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, after Bernie Ripoll resigned from the position in September. The decision of who is to take up the portfolio is due to be made by 11:30am October 13, 2015. In the past month the portfolio for financial … Read more
Cbus sponsors residential housing conference
Cbus is sponsoring the National Housing Conference 2015 (NHC) to help progress the creation of a mechanism or product that would enable it to invest in affordable housing. The super fund is one of a number of sponsors of the biennial event, which is the largest cross-sector housing meeting in Australasia, due to be held … Read more
Trend continues to international custodians, but NAB remains as top provider
NAB Asset Servicing is still the largest custodian in Australia with $702 billion in assets under custody (AUC), but it has only experienced a 1.4 per cent growth, while its nearest competitor grew by 16.5 per cent. JP Morgan had $558 billion in AUC at June 2015 and has benefitted from new clients such as … Read more
Have financial institutions become less vulnerable to shocks?
The biggest risk to investors is not another financial system crisis but a global shock that has been underestimated. Graham Harman, investment strategist, Asia-Pacific at Russell Investments told an audience at the Paul Woolley Centre for the study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality in Sydney, that investors should be more concerned of a risk hitherto underestimated, … Read more
Russell Investments sold to private equity firm
Russell Investments has been sold to TA Associates, a private equity firm that specialises in building up fund management companies. The London Stock Exchange Group has sold the global fund management and consulting operations of Russell Investments to TA Associates for US $1.15 billion, with Reverence Capital Partners taking a minority shareholding. Russell Investments will … Read more
Indian infrastructure roundtable
Although concerns exist for the investment case for India around the dearth of information and the lack of process so far in accurately gauging past performance and the future risk return pay off, a recent Investment Magazine roundtable showed there is a palpable desire to bridge that divide, and increase the allocation of super fund money to an economy that has … Read more
Media Super restructures insurance offering
A 150 per cent increase in premiums in three years has led to new options being developed including rehabilitation of members and the halting of selection against Media Super. Michael Rooney, deputy chief executive officer of Media Super, said the historical methods weren’t sustainable as the fund has experienced a 70 per cent increase in … Read more
Why leaders fail and succeed
The leaders of publicly listed companies are prone to lying, self-aggrandisement, bullying and narcissistic behaviour. This is the damning indictment of US chief executives by Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organisational behaviour at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, in his book Leadership BS, fixing workplaces and careers one truth at a time. Pfeffer’s contention … Read more
Australian Catholic Super adopts bucket strategy
Australian Catholic Super has launched a account based pension product based on a bucket strategy, offering members a simple and accessible solution which tackles the risks associated with longevity. Similar to solutions used by financial planners and Equip Super, the product works by investing a member’s account balance into two buckets: cash and growth. The … Read more
